


An Artist and his Model

by JackedofSpades



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, Anal Sex, Gay Sex, Humanstuck, M/M, Masturbation, Oral Sex, References to Drug Use
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-26
Updated: 2013-09-29
Packaged: 2017-12-16 05:43:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/858501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JackedofSpades/pseuds/JackedofSpades
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>College AU where Karkat takes a figure drawing class for an art credit. Dave is the model and Karkat is totally into him and ends up running into him later at a party.</p><p>"For some reason, Karkat couldn't get over the idea that this slim, young guy was going to be their model. At first he thought it was because he was their age, and frankly the idea of seeing a peer naked was sort of awkward. What if he saw him outside of class? What if he was friends with somebody he knew? But as soon as the boy came to the front of the class and began readying himself for warm up poses, Karkat realized it was for another reason. A reason he couldn't bring himself to admit but made him fidget on his bench."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Drawing 101

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic and I'm hoping for it to be a multi-chapter fic with a few story arcs. I got the idea for this fic - no joke - when I was in the middle of modeling for a drawing class at my school. A lot of the references to modeling or actual art stuff are pulled from actual experiences I've had. I will be transitioning into and peppering in smut and porn after the first introduction chapter, so that's why I've tagged this explicit. Please feel free to give constructive critique, suggestions or point out grammar and spelling mistakes. Thanks!

  
  
Karkat walked into the unfamiliar drawing room with apprehension. He had nothing against taking a figure drawing class for his art credit. Hell, he was glad that he had his high school friend Nepeta talk him into it so he wouldn't be alone but he was no artist. He was definitely out of his element here away from his more familiar biology classes and lab room. Still, Nepeta had overheard him discussing his course schedule with his lab partner, Jade, and practically begged him to take the class with her. A short winter break later, and here he was.

He sat down on a wooden drawing bench and waited, a little unsure of his surroundings. “I guess a lab would look just as strange to an art major as this place does to me,” he absentmindedly thought at his eyes roamed the room. The room was arranged around a short wooden platform that was about two feet off of the ground. Set against the far wall, various easels and wooden benches were arranged around it in a semi-circle with lights aimed every which way from the ceiling. A fat pile of pillows and cloth laid in a box not far from the dais, clearly meant for the model's comfort. “That makes sense,” Karkat thought, “I sure as fuck wouldn't want to be uncomfortable sitting ass-naked for who knows how long.” Other things around the room made less sense; there was a shelf not far off from the box of padding that housed various oddities such as old typewriters, strange dolls, dead flowers, even a beat up pair of... arms? Looking just a bit higher Karkat found the owner of the arms, a beat up mannequin that was clearly overused.

Eventually, people started trickling into the classroom not long after Karkat sat down. Feeling a little self-conscious, Karkat pretended to straighten out his supplies. He opened his packet of charcoal vine and squeezed at it, causing the stick to shatter and cover his hands with dust. He was about to let out a curse when a happy giggle caused him to look up.  
“Hi Karkitty! I see you are getting acquainted with your materials,” Nepeta said and beamed down at him. “Yeah, I guess fucking so,” Karkat snorted at her but without any real malice.  
“I thought you'd have been the first one here, Nep.”  
“Oh well, I was running a bit behind. Equius was a bit nervous about his first club meeting and I so I walked him to it to help calm him down.”  
“What's the fuck sort of club got him so nervous?  
“Archery.”

Karkat rolled his eyes as Nepeta cheerfully smiled back at him. “God damn it those two,” he thought. He'd met Nepeta early in high school and they had quickly become friends, but Equius and Nepeta had been neighbors as children and practically best friends from birth. They were pretty inseparable. They even tried to put in a special request to share a room, but didn't get it. What they did get was a co-ed dorm and rooms right next to each other. Karkat was pretty used to Equius being a staple of Nepeta's room when he visited from time to time.

“He'll be purrfectly fine. Anyway, did you get all your supplies alright? I know the school store doesn't sell everything, so I brought some extras just in case.”

As Nepeta began to pull out her supplies, a boy without the trademark sketchpad of an art student caught Karkat's eye. At first he thought the blond boy simply didn't buy his supplies, but when he sat aside from the rest of the students in the back of the room, Karkat realized he wasn't taking the class. He had on a long sleeve shirt, tight, skinny black jeans and the most ridiculous pair of aviators. Karkat wondered how the hell he could see in the dim light of the class. He got the feeling the boy knew his eyes had followed him across the room. For some reason, embarrassment kicked up in Karkat's gut, and he quickly turned his gaze away from the boy.

“Is that kid shadowing a fucking art class? What the fuck will he get about this school from watching us draw old naked people? He looks like he's our age, anyway.” Karkat whispered and nudged Nepeta in the direction of the boy as the professor entered the room.“Hmm maybe he's a prospective student, but he's probably just the model,” Nepeta said simply after a quick glance, more interested in setting up her sketchbook. “The... model?” Karkat said blankly. Karkat stole another glance back at the boy as the Professor started the orientation lecture. For some reason, Karkat couldn't get over the idea that this slim, young guy was going to be their model. At first he thought it was because he was their age, and frankly the idea of seeing a peer naked was sort of awkward. What if he saw him outside of class? What if he was friends with somebody he knew? But as soon as the boy came to the front of the class and began readying himself for warm up poses, Karkat realized it was for another reason. A reason he couldn't bring himself to admit but made him fidget on his bench.

“Do you require anything, David? A changing screen is folded up by the pillows if you desire privacy,” the professor politely offered to the blond boy. “Nah, I'm good Professor. Sort of seems moot, you know? Also, just Dave is fine” the boy said casually and Karkat could have sworn he saw him look right at him at the end. Like his name was an invitation for him alone. Karkat started and felt himself going a bit pink but tried to look unaffected. Besides, the boy had stupid ass sunglasses on; how the hell could he know if he was looking at him anyway? But just as Karkat finished the thought, the model removed his shades and was in fact staring directly at Karkat.

It was only for a second, but Karkat was sure of it. He gave a quick sideways glance at Nepeta to see if she had seen it too, but she was happily sharpening an 8B pencil. Karkat glanced down at his own supplies and grabbed whatever the hell found its way into his hand first. He didn't know the difference and he doubted it'd matter on the first day anyway. Pencil in hand, he glanced back up to see Dave's arms high above his head, just at the crest of pulling his red and white shirt off.

Karkat tensed up and couldn't help but stare. He hadn't noticed right away, but in the absence of his sunglasses were bright, red eyes. At first Karkat thought the lighting was messing with the color, but as he turned he saw the crimson color was no play of light. The boy was slim and lean, but was decently toned. He had a a bit of a bony collarbone with freckles peppering just his shoulders. The rest of his skin was a pure, creamy white that shined in the bright spot lights. He had a long torso with a hint of a six-pack and long arms with graceful fingers. Karkat watched as those fingers began to undo the button of his fly and really began to panic.

He tried desperately not to show any outward reaction, but Dave undid Karkat as well as his pants with every button. Feeling the flush on his face, Karkat opted to look directly into one of the spot lights. He regretted this decision immediately, but when he looked around the room, he saw nothing but calm or bored faces above the huge green spot emblazoned on his vision. Karkat knew he must be naked by now, but nobody had started drawing. At some point he realized the professor had turned on some classical music. He tightened his hand around the pencil and looked down between his legs.

“Karkat, are you alright?” Nepeta said quietly as she leaned over and put a hand on his shoulder. “I'M FINE THIS IS JUST REALLY WIERD,” Karkat said quickly and heatedly. Nepeta only smiled as she replied, “It's okay, everyone gets a little uncomfortable when they see their first nude model. After a few poses you won't even notice it!”

Karkat kept noticing. In fact, he missed the first of the 10 one-minute poses from freaking out. “OK fuckass, get your shit together and draw this guy,” Karkat thought trying to steel himself, “just look at his dick and get it over with, and then move the fucking pencil around and draw him - even though he's hot.” With that final admission, Karkat finally looked up. There he was, this boy Karkat had only laid eyes on not 10 minutes ago, full naked and splayed in front of him. Obviously he wasn't erect but still, the sight of him completely exposed, and the knowledge of the way his blond trail was trimmed so neatly seemed almost more intimate. In a vain attempt to begin drawing, Karkat hurriedly slammed his pencil into the paper, causing the tip to break clean off.

“MOTHER FUCKER”

The whole class turned to look as Karkat sat glaring at the paper. After a moments realization Karkat mumbled an apology and stared back into his lap. He glanced at Nepeta. She continued to draw but a wry smile played on her face. She knew how he was, and simply wrote in the corner of her paper “:33 just start again.” Karkat closed his eyes, inhaled, and took another look at his model. Though he was looking the other direction, there was a warmth played on the blond's face with just the smallest hint of a smile. Feeling slightly more relaxed, the rest of the class melted away around Karkat as he began to draw a second time.

The blond boy was in a classical pose with his arms up and folded around his head with one leg taut. His whole torso was tight and well lit. He seemed to know exactly how to twist and flex his body to give the artists the most dynamic pose. He was gorgeous, in more than one definition. He was really good at this, had a lot of experience, or both. Karkat began to scratch hesitant marks on his paper, simply trying to get anything remotely similar to a human form down. After what seemed like 10 seconds, Dave switched to another one minute pose. This time a much stronger, masculine pose. He mimicked the stance of a spear thrower after just releasing his weapon. Karkat noticed that through each pose after the first, he kept a cool, placid face of indifference. Again Karkat tried to scribble down even a shadow of the elegance Dave exuded from the pose. After another few poses, Karkat felt himself loosening up. He was able to draw out his lines more gracefully, more steadily. He felt the energy Dave created in each pose transfer into his gesture drawings. Karkat still felt the strange heat of attraction within him, but managed to at least bargain with himself to bottle it up and deal with it later.

At some point, the 10 one-minute poses ended and switched to a few five minute poses. Karkat saw he only had seven gestures down on one page, while Nepeta had done larger, more energetic poses that had taken up several pages. She gave him a knowing look that seemed to say “You did just fine.” Just as Karkat settled into a comfortable state, Dave settled into a graceful, feminine pose and stared right at him.

Dave kept a calm, indifference to his features but something about his body language sent a different message. When Karkat made eye contact with him he could feel it.

“I'm modeling for everyone, but I'm putting on a show for you," he seemed to say.

Karkat tensed up again at the thought, but decided to try a different tactic. Again he began to draw, but allowed his emotions to play on his face. “Fuck it,” he thought. There was no use hiding how flustered he was getting, so he might as well channel it into drawing. Karkat began furiously marking the paper and letting his lines go wild. At first he was worried about drawing wrong, but realized how fucking stupid that sounded and allowed himself to go. These were still just warm-ups, so why not warm up? His lines were messy, but not chaotic. Where his mind went, his hand followed. At some point, he remembered his Biology illustrations he'd done for a lab last semester. Another minute and he was thinking about the drawings he'd done with Nepeta in their high school notebooks. Feeling more confident he allowed himself to exaggerate, to create rather than copy. He elongated Dave's torso to accentuate its elegance, he exaggerated the muscles in his neck and the pout of his lips. Just as Karkat was getting lost in the sketch, time ran out and the pose changed.

After a few more 5 minute poses, the class took a break before the longer poses. Dave simply flipped one of the cloths over his lower half and laid up on the platform. He seemed bored and pulled out a cellphone and began texting. Karkat was interrupted from staring at him when Nepeta turned to him.

“Sooo, lemme see how you did. Oh Karkat, these are pretty good! See I told you you'd do better once you loosened up!”

Karkat switched sketchbooks with her and only half listened as she offered suggestions and pointed out flaws. Karkat tried to focus but his eyes kept wandering over to the blond boy, feeling slightly too curious as to who he was texting.

After a few minutes, Dave settled into another pose. This time he was reclining, laying on his side with his ass just slightly turned towards Karkat's side of the room. Heat immediately returned to Karkat's face when he realized Dave was looking at him again. Again Karkat buried himself in his drawing, creating an idealized image of his model, throwing expression into every line. With a longer pose, Karkat was able to create more detail. A stray gesture line found its way above his head and without thinking, Karkat completed the line into a circle around Dave's head. A simple gesture and expression of creativity, it was not until the end of the class when Nepeta pointed it out that Karkat realized with horror he'd given the blond a halo.

As the class packed up around him, Karkat glanced between putting his supplies away and watching the blond get dressed. After packing up, Nepeta and Karkat headed towards the door. As they walked out, Nepeta gave a wave to the Professor. “Thank you for modeling, David,” she added politely to the blond before exiting the room. “Anytime,” was all he responded, his eyes trained on Karkat as he said it. Karkat opened his mouth to speak, but said nothing and decided instead on a curt nod and shuffled out of the room.

Nepeta parted ways with him halfway across campus and promised to meet with him for lunch the next day. Karkat was looking forward to flopping face first into his bed and forgetting about the last few hours. It wasn't that Karkat was upset about finding the guy attractive; he'd become pretty comfortable with his sexuality since high school. It was just that he had been lucky enough to avoid the cliché college freshman experience. True, he was way more attractive than any of the other guys Karkat had run into in his first semester. He just didn't want to end up looking for him on his way to class, or in the cafeteria. He didn't want to feel disappointed next week when a new model greeted him in drawing class. Still, as Karkat typed in the door code to his dorm building he couldn't help but recall the boy's eyes on him. He wasn't making it up, was he? Was he so into this guy that he was looking for signs that weren't there? It was seriously cliché to fall for the model in an art class. Wait, who said anything about falling for him?

Karkat tried to clear thoughts of toned, blonde pretty boys from his mind as he made his way up the hall to his room. He hoped to god his roommate was out so he could just lay in bed and watch a movie alone. As he reached his door the sound of laughter and music from his room shot down all hopes of that. With a groan of resignation, Karkat entered his room anticipating a long night.


	2. Shower time and pre-gaming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat goes back to his room only to discover he's going to a senior party with his crazy friends. While they are out buying costumes and drinks for the party, Karkat takes a shower and thinks a bit too much about the model from his drawing class earlier that day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!! I'm really sorry I'm updating late! I got in a panel for Supercon last minute and had to practice/was there all weekend! It was great but I know you don't care! Have some wet naked Karkat touching himself as an apology!
> 
> Also thank you everyone who has read, commented and bookmarked. I love you guys and it makes me so happy to see even one more pageview!

 Upon opening his door, Karkat was greeted to the sight of his roommate hanging halfway off of his bed upside-down and reading an especially large book. Packed on his bed were a few of their friends. Roxy Lalonde was stretched out on Gamzee's bed with her laptop laughing up a storm. On either side of her was Jade Harley and John Egbert. Karkat wasn't surprised to see Jade. He'd told her to meet him at his room to compare notes from that morning's Biology lecture. Every so often her brother John would tag along. Karkat hated him at first, since he had a habit of interrupting study sessions with bad jokes or by loudly commenting on some terrible movie he'd be watching on his laptop. After a few weeks though, Karkat found John's goofy and infectious friendliness won him over.

“Hey guys.” Karkat grumbled as he carefully stepped over his roommate and flopped onto his own bed.

“Have fun at your drawing class, best friend?”

Gamzee Makara was by no means Karkat's first choice of roommate, but being a freshman he was thrown together with him randomly. When they first met, Karkat would have sworn he'd gotten the most incompatible roommate in the history of housing assignments. Gamzee looked like a mess most of the time. With his shoulder-length, dark shaggy hair, disheveled and often dirty clothing, his appearance did nothing to impress Karkat on move-in day. He showed up with only a backpack and a luggage trunk. His ragtag appearance only served to confuse Karkat more when he greeted him with a friendly hello and hug. From that first day, Gamzee insisted on calling him his best friend and bro and often accompanied him to lunch and dinner at the cafeteria. Annoyed at first, Karkat tried to shoo him off when he was working or wanted to be alone, but after a while Karkat noticed little things Gamzee would do that he really appreciated.

After an especially rigorous cram session with Jade last semester, Karkat had come home and realized he'd missed dinner and the cafeteria was closed. He came back to an empty room, hungry, pissed and burnt out only to find a note from his roommate on a box of pizza that simply said, “Knew you'd be out late with Jade. Got you some munchies, bro. :O)” From then on, Karkat loosened up around him and they'd spent the rest of the semester getting to know each other and getting along rather well.

“Drawing is hard. I barely knew what the fuck I was doing. I'm tired and bitchy - leave me be.”

Roxy looked up from her laptop, apparently having just finished showing the Egbert siblings her new favorite cat videos. “OMG Karkat how can you be tired; don't you know what today is?”

“It's fucking Friday. Again, leave me the fuck alone.” Karkat rolled onto his stomach with his face in his pillow.

“Karkat! How could you have forgotten. We have all been looking forward to this since the end of last semester!!” Jade chimed in and slid off of Gamzee's bed to sit at the foot of Karkat's. “Come on Mr. Cranky, we were just about to go out to the costume store to get supplies!!”

Realization dawned on Karkat. He rolled over and quickly sat up. How the fuck could he have forgotten. He'd promised his friends he'd finally go to a college party with them when they got back from Christmas break. They'd picked the very first one of the new semester, of course. Dread and panic coursed through Karkat immediately.

“OH FUCK NO. ARE YOU SERIOUS. THIS SHIT IS REALLY TONIGHT?”

“Hehe! See I told you he'd forget, Jade. Karkat come on! It'll be a ton of fun!” John said and threw his arms in the air enthusiastically.

“Does it have to be the first fucking party of the new year? I am in a terrible fucking mood and I highly doubt you assholes will want me around.”

Jade leaned over and threw her arms around Karkat and pulled him back and forth. “Come on Karkat pleeeeassseee! We've been doing nothing but studying together. Let's all go have fun tonight.” Jade released Karkat and made the biggest puppy dog eyes at him she could muster. Karkat opened his mouth to protest but only sighed.

“Goddamnit fine, but I'm not going out with you all to get shitty costumes.”

“Oh no problem, bro. You just go and leave it up to your roomie here. I'll all up and grab a sick motherfucking get up for you,” Gamzee said as he flipped around off his bed, landing in a strangely perfect cross-legged pose, a dumb smile plastered on his face.

“Fine whatever but for the love of fuck, do NOT get me something fucking embarrassing or stupid.”

“Don't you worry your angry little head, Kark. We'll all look fabulous and then get too drunk to care!” Roxy smiled and patted Karkat on the head as she walked to the door. Jade patted him as well, just for good measure.

Karkat watched them shuffle out of the room and melted back into his bed once he was sure they were gone. There were so many thoughts swimming around in his head that he just laid their for a bit and stared at the ceiling. Great. Now he was going to a party with his friends. He'd never been into parties much. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy hanging out with his friends, or even drinking a little, but he much preferred the nights where a small group of friends would hang out in his room and play video games or talk together. The idea of a big dorm party was less than appealing. The biggest issue really was just having to be around drunk strangers. Nothing infuriated Karkat more than making the walk back from the library at 2AM and being harassed by a bunch of drunken idiots. You just never knew who you'd run into.

Wait. You never knew who you'd run into. Immediately the thought of running into Dave at the party filled Karkat's mind. He could very well be a student. Even if he wasn't, it's not like they had a closed campus, he could show up at a party right? “What would I even say to him if I saw him,” he thought. Karkat was beyond trying to deny it now. He was into this guy and there was no stopping it. If there was even a slim chance he could run into him tonight, he'd be willing to brave even the dumbest frat party.

His mind made up, Karkat decided he better clean himself up before his crazy friends got back and started their shenanigans. He threw his black t-shirt and hole riddled gray pants into his hamper, grabbed a towel and his toiletries and walked down the hall to the communal bathroom. Luckily, there was no one else in the showers at this hour. Karkat wasn't especially shy, but he always enjoyed getting the biggest shower on the end and the silence and privacy it entailed. He closed the curtain, hung up his towel and stripped off his boxers.

Once the water warmed up, he let it wash over him and felt the tension of the day melt off of him. It was comforting and warm. The feeling made him think of the smile he'd gotten from the blonde boy earlier that day. As he was rinsing the shampoo out of his hair, the feeling of his arms above his head recalled more thoughts of the boy in his various poses. Karkat wanted to see him like that again. He wanted to have him alone and he allowed himself the briefest of fantasies.

Giving up on the conditioner, Karkat slid his hand down his chest, imagining Dave with him in the shower. Naked and glistening like a Greek statue, he saw his red eyes staring into his own; touching at his neck with both hands, caressing down over his collarbone. He tried to stop, remembering he was in a shared bathroom, but then the thought of the blonde smiling and whispering to him brought him right back.

“If I can pose naked in front of a class, I think we can do this behind a curtain, hmm?”

Imaginary Dave was right, and Karkat ran his hand down further, stopping to caress his hips, bracing himself against the wall with one hand up. Behind his eyelids he saw Dave pulling his hips into his and kissing softly at the nape of his neck. Karkat could feel himself getting harder. He thought about how Dave's hair would fall thick and wet into his eyes from the warm water. He saw his lean muscles just below his soft skin, tense and so very close. His strange, beautiful crimson eyes mesmerized him, and in his mind's eye he felt Dave close the distance between them and kiss him as streams of warm water rained down on them both. The thought alone made Karkat's erection twitch to it's full length.

He groped at Dave, pulling him close to him; one hand on his ass and one twisted in the back of his wet mop of blond hair. Grabbing the full length of his erection, Karkat began to slowly pull at himself, thinking of how Dave would do it to him. Slow and languid at first, simply reveling in the slick feeling; sometimes just loosely teasing, running his open palm up the length of it, only to close again around the tip. Karkat imagined that as he pumped at him, Dave's own erection would be grinding against him, sometimes at Karkat's hip, sometimes finding its way against the underside of his cock as Dave massaged the head.

Karkat thrusts became more and more needy and quick. The smallest of noises left his lips, as he imagined moaning into Dave's full lips as he kissed him with more and more hunger. Dave licked and bit at Karkat's bottom lip, panting between nips. Karkat bit at his own lip at the thought and felt himself getting close. Dave's imagined thrusts quickened as well, and Karkat bit back at his neck, running his hand down Dave's chest, grabbing one of his hips and thumbing at the soft patch of blonde hair. Dave reached with his free hand and ran it up the length of Karkat's chest, brushing over a nipple slightly until they reached his mouth. A single finger slid in at first, but as Karkat eagerly sucked on it, another was added. Karkat was now openly thrusting into Dave's hand, flushed and soaked as he nibbled and sucked on Dave's long, pale fingers.

Karkat thought how Dave might lean in right now, how he would leave his fingers in his mouth, scissoring them just slightly, playfully. How he would brush his lips ever so gently against Karkat's ear lobe. How he could feel his hot breath panted into him. Dave would lean into him and he'd simply say,

“I want you.”

The words hit him hard and like a spasm of warm energy, traveled from his ear straight through his core and to his throbbing cock. It was all he needed, to hear the words he wanted to say himself, echoed back at him. With a few last thrusts Karkat came against himself, still bracing the wall with one hand. He caught himself panting and simply stood there as the warm water started washing away the mess he'd made as well as the illusion of Dave's presence he'd felt so vividly.

Eventually, Karkat finished conditioning his hair after soaping himself down. A content and slightly sluggish feeling came over him as he toweled himself off. He felt good, not at all ashamed. He had been honest in his desire and nothing could change it. He slipped his boxers back on and exited the bathroom with his towel around his waist.

Back in his room, he began rummaging through his clothes for something decent to wear as he waited. The slightest tinge of excitement roiled in his stomach as he searched. He tried not to thing about the fact that Dave may not be there, and instead focused on what he'd do when he eventually did see him again, tonight or not. He'd simply start up a normal conversation with him; ask him about his major, maybe his hobbies, how he got into modeling even.

After some searching, Karkat settled on a grey long-sleeve collared shirt, black slacks and some black boots. It wasn't fancy, but it was him. He knew whatever costumes they brought back would probably cause him to change anyway, but he'd hoped he could get away with just wearing a hat or some stupid accessory. He settled down and rummaged through Jade's notes she'd left out on his desk until his friends were back.

An hour or so later, his friend burst excitedly through the door brandishing their loot. Roxy stormed in dual wielding two entire handles of vodka with a huge grin on her face. Karkat was vaguely aware that one of the bottles seemed to be missing a bit already. Jade bounced along with John wearing what appeared to be a pair of dog ears? John had no ears himself, but seemed to have what looked like a halo. Gamzee rounded off the group and walked in with a pitchfork and long, curved devil horns and two bags of additional mystery items.

“Okay just what kind of fucked up party are you asshats dragging me to?” Karkat said once they'd all setttled into the room.

“OMFG KARRRKAT. Don't you pay at-attention at allll?” Roxy said as started mixing drinks on Gamzee's desk.

“NO I FUCKING DON'T THAT'S WHY I ASKED YOU GODDAMN LUSH.”

“Karkat calm down! It's a themed party! The senior dorm always throws one at the beginning of the Spring semester,” John said happily as he pulled out a white feather boa from one of Gamzee's bags.

“This year's theme is Heaven and Hell!!” Jade mused as she began putting on a pair of fake fangs.

“Why the fuck are you a dog then?”

“I'm Cerberus silly!” Jade answered as she pulled out the final piece to her costume, a fluffy dog tail.

“Doesn't Cerberus have three heads?” John asked as he threw his boa around himself.

“Haha I will once you have a few drinks!!”

After Roxy made her self a drink and downed it, she passed everyone else a glass and began stripping down to put on her “sexy devil dress” as the packaging at Karkat's foot said. Gamzee pretty much looked the same as usual except for his horns which strangely suited him. After taking a sip of the overly strong drink Roxy had made, Karkat opened the bag meant for him.

The bag was surprisingly light. Karkat pulled out a red and black feather boa and rolled his eyes but put it on anyway. The only other thing in the bag was a devil tail and a headband with horns. Wait. These weren't like Gamzee's devil horns. They were... nubs?

“THE FUCK IS THIS.” Karkat yelled as he brandished the tiny horned headband at Gamzee.

“Bro, I figured you'd not want to be all up and covered in some elaborate motherfucking costume all night so I just got you those” Gamzee said with a sincere smile.

“YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING TO GET ME, AND I QUOTE, “A SICK MOTHERFUCKING COSTUME.” DID YOU FIND THEM IN THE FUCKING KID'S SECTION?”

“Yeah man”

“I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU”

“Aw come on Karkat put them on!! I told him to get them. I think they will look really cute on you.” Jade said as she walked over and pinched Karkat's cheeks. Fuming, Karkat crossed his arms and glared at her as she put them on for him. John laughed while Gamzee gave him a thumbs up.

“Jade I swear to fucking god if you were not necessary to finishing my Biology experiment this semester you'd be dead on the floor right now.”

“Well it's a good thing I am then! Karkat you really do look adorable in them though! Come on, have some more of your martini and let's put on some music on and hang out a bit before we head out! The party starts in less than an hour!”

For once Karkat did not protest as his friends roped him into a dumb drinking games. He started to enjoy himself even when Jade put on some of his favorite music as they played card games. And maybe if Jade thought he was cute in his stupid horns, someone else tonight would too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Karkat finds he is a better dancer than he ever thought he could be, but maybe it's just the alcohol and he starts to panic when he sees a certain someone across the room.


	3. Party at Roxy's

Karkat began to have second thoughts as they approached the three-story senior dormitory. He'd never been to this side of campus and the large, apartment-style dorm made Karkat acutely aware of his Freshman status. Of course, Roxy was a Junior and assured them nobody would throw them out or be rude on account of their standing. Still, as they approached the front lobby Karkat felt a pit in his stomach and wished he'd had more than two drinks before they left.   

The entire dorm was shaped like a massive letter U with the lobby uniting each floor together, effectively creating a common area on each level. In the middle of the dorm was an open courtyard with hammocks, a grill, and picnic tables. Each room had a balcony that overlooked the courtyard, which made an amazing venue for impromptu concerts, dorm events or parties. Additionally, each common room on the floors above the front lobby housed laundry facilities, a small kitchen, tables and some sort of entertainment. Karkat noticed the dorm had been decorated so that the first floor resembled Hell, the second Earth, and the third Heaven. Though it was only 9:30pm, the first of the party goers were casually chatting and drinking in the courtyard while others buzzed back and forth from the private party spaces that had been set up in various dorm rooms around the U-shape.

Roxy lived on the 3rd floor, sharing her apartment with three other girls. Jane, her roommate, was an RA for the floor and was likely to be running to and fro all night scolding party goers and keeping order. She was nowhere to be seen when they entered Roxy's room, no doubt already on full duty. 

Of course, Roxy had her room set up like a club for the night. She had stripped the entire front living area of furniture except for the couch and made it an impromptu dance floor. LED light ropes garnished the walls as well as sparkly silver garlands. There was a small table set up to one side with some speakers on it and a single chair, but the only other thing was an ipod that was plugged into them. It was playing on low a mix of top 20 songs. The kitchen, which was just a few feet away, had a small breakfast counter she had converted into a full liquor bar, which was decorated with even more lights and garlands. On the other side of the mass of bottles, her other two housemates were busy chatting away, each with a glass of wine in their hands. 

One was tall and elegant, in a luxurious high-waisted red satin gown that fell to just above her knees at a slant. She had long, matching silk gloves that ran up to her elbow and an elegant ruby studded hair clip that swept her short hair to one side. She too had costume horns on, though they looked handmade and were curved more creatively. Karkat thought one might be bent, but it seemed intentionally so. She had on light eye-makeup and dark, black lipstick that completed the outfit. She was perfectly poised on a barstool talking lightly yet animatedly to Roxy's other housemate. 

In a high necked, open backed silver cocktail dress, Roxy's other housemate was laughing deviously at a joke the elegant one had told. She was not quite as graceful, but clearly intelligent and lovely all the same. Her short blonde bob framed her face delicately and her rhinestone headband seemed a classy alternative to the usual costume halo. She too had velvety black lips but unlike her conversation partner, her eyes were done heavily in black eyeliner and silver eye shadow. Upon the group entering the room, she spun around and greeted Roxy with a hug.

“Sis, are you ready for tonight! I'm sooo excited!! Did you get the mixers?” Roxy said excitedly as she ran over to the table and poured another drink.

“Of course I did. Kanaya and I were just about to inquire as to where you were earlier today, but I believe I can safely infer you were with this company here?” The elegant girl lithely walked over to stand behind the blonde, placing a thin hand on her shoulder.

“YEP. These dweebs are my Frosh buddies. Be nice to them and make sure they don't puke on anything  tonight!” Roxy yelled back as she ran into her bedroom to grab some shot glasses.

“Hello everyone. Roxy hadn't informed us we would be having guests for the evening. Even so, it's lovely meeting you all. You're welcome to have anything from the bar. My name is Kanaya and this is my girlfriend Rose.”

After everyone introduced themselves and pleasantries were exchanged, Karkat settled himself on the couch with John and Jade. In Roxy's absence, Gamzee had taken over the role of bartender and immediately started mixing up some sort of drink that apparently incorporated 4 different kinds of liquors. Usually Karkat was reluctant to take anything Gamzee poured for him, but since the pit in his stomach hadn't quite settled yet, he took the sour green looking drink without fuss. Roxy returned later with several double shot glasses and her favorite martini glass. She had gone on about it earlier that night, saying it was her lucky glass because no matter how drunk she got, it was the only one in the original set of 12 that never broke.

"I feel like I'm a little underdressed now," John said as he gestured to Kanaya and Rose while holding the end of his feather boa with a little distain.

"Nah, Roxy said they always do this sort of thing. Kanaya is a fashion major and she always looks that good. She makes Rose things and dotes on her. It's sort of adorable really!" Jade answered enthusiastically and scooted over to make room for Gamzee, accepting one of the glasses from him.

Roxy dragged the chair around from the table with the ipod on it. "I hope the DJ gets here on time," she began as she thumbed through her songs "the last one I had was terrible, but this guy is supposed to be goooood. He should be here in like 20 minutes or so, but, hey! You guys wanna go explore Hell on the first floor? I heard they were giving out free fireball shots! Maybe we can find Janey and get her to have a shot. Come on!"

"What the hell we just got here," Karkat tried to protest but was swept off his feet with giggles as Roxy pulled him out of the room with Jade pushing him from behind. Gamzee happily followed, and John ran alongside Karkat with a big grin on his face. They ran down two flights of stairs and Karkat realized his friends were already more tipsy than he was. Still, he had a smile on and was glad to be out. Jade was right, maybe he'd spent too much time studying last semester. On the other hand, Karkat took a double-take every time they walked by a blonde boy in the dorm, so maybe his motives weren't quite so pure.

They spent the next 15 minutes or so walking from door to door on the first level of the dorms. It seems that some of the rooms had been decorated like the levels of Hell in _Dante's Inferno_. Roxy pulled them into her friend Dirk's room. His room had picked the second level, Lust. Karkat was confused and slightly disturbed by the decorations. It seemed Dirk and his roommates had gone about it ironically and had really cheesy valentine decorations all over the room as well as a bunch of shitty paper cut-outs of fire on the bottoms of their walls. However, the decorations were nothing compared to Dirk's outfit.

Roxy snorted laughing and ran up to him and gave him a huge hug. He was dressed as Cupid, as in, a fat baby angel with diapers Cupid. Karkat would have found him really attractive, with his cut abs and sharp jaw line, but he couldn't bring himself to think it with that diaper. It was even more off-putting how he kept a straight face through it all. Trying not to think about it too much, Karkat made small talk with them all after meeting and, as promised, Dirk offered them all a fireball shot which they took gladly. Karkat wandered out of the room after a minute of watching Roxy drunkenly banter and hang on Dirk. It was fine that she was good friends with him, but it made Karkat uncomfortable to just sort of stand there and listen. Besides, out front he could hang around and watch the growing amount of party goers. It seemed John had the same idea as he quickly joined Karkat.

"Boy, Roxy sure does know everybody!"

"Yeah no shit. She's always at every goddamn party on this campus."

"Haha yeah! Well it's good for us, free booze! You having a good time? You seem much less cranky than usual tonight."

"Yeah I guess so." Karkat leaned over the railing overlooking the inner court yard and gave John a small smile.

"Haha you're such a dork Karkat."

"Hey fuck you!" Karkat said threateningly but with the smile still on his face. He punched John in the arm, and John pretended to be mortally wounded, falling to the floor. Karkat raised his foot high, mockingly about to step on him when Jade and Gamzee burst out of Dirk's room.

"UH GUYS?" Jade said breathlessly, stopping short at the sight in front of her. Karkat and John froze. Jade and Gamzee just stared at them for a second. Karkat looked back at John and let his foot fall.

"Oof!" John said and then laughed.

"Oh my god you guys are such dorks! Come on let's go walk around some more! Roxy's going back to the room to check on things. Maybe we can get some more free drinks!"

Karkat helped John up and they followed Jade from room to room. He was beginning to feel the alcohol. A pleasant warmth and slight numbness to pain made it easy for him to be led around by his friends. They did find more free drinks, as Jade had thought: frozen jello shots in the deepest layer of Hell. After that, they took the stairs up to the second level, Earth. There they ran into a bunch of half naked people dressed as Adam and Eve. John was slightly horrified, but Karkat rolled his eyes and dragged him along. Gamzee seemed to really enjoy himself, talking to some of the Adams and Eves,  but when he began to strip down all three of them yelled and forced his shirt back on in unison. Laughing at their antics, one of the Adams offered them some hard apple cider. They hung out a bit longer with them, bantering about trivial things and their interests. Karkat forgot their names, but really it didn't matter. He was relaxed and having fun and the pit in his stomach had all but disappeared.

 

And then he saw him.

 

He wasn't sure at first, but out of the corner of his eye he saw a blonde boy in shades go up the stairs to the top level. He didn't have a shirt on either, and looked like he was carrying a bunch of stuff. What the hell?

Feeling panic and a slightly creepy need to follow him, Karkat tried to move his friends in that direction.

"Hey you guys, shouldn't we make it back to Roxy's? She's throwing a party and all." Karkat said as he tried to crane his neck up to see above him on the 3rd floor balcony.

"Oh my god Karkaaat! You're right we shoul- hey wait. Come with us guys!" Jade said as she leaned into a half naked and bloodied Cain and scared looking Abel.

"Yeah sure whatever, let's just GO." Karkat spit out and turned, heading for the stairs.

Karkat pushed through the crowd of people on the tiny path between the apartments. Absentmindedly, Karkat noticed that down below, a band had begun playing some music to a large crowd of people - mostly freshman that were too nervous to ascend into the residential portion of the dormitory.

Making it through the last of the party goers, Karkat began to climb the steps up to Roxy's room when he felt a hand on his shoulder abruptly stop him.

"KARKAT WAIT."

"Holy shit what the fuck is it, John?"

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS KARKAT?"

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT."

"Karkat..."

Karkat stared at him, waiting.

"We're on the Stairway to Heaven."

"NO JOHN, FUCK NO."

"Karkat. There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold-"

"OH MY FUCKING GOD YOU PIECE OF SHIT ARE YOU REALLY GOING TO DO THIS RIGHT NOW"

"And she's buuuying the-"

"I WILL CUT YOUR THROAT."

"STAIRWAY TO HEAVEEEEN"

John proceeded to sing a few more lines of the song as he climbed the stairs as well as finish with an air guitar solo. Gamzee, who didn't know the words, assisted him on the drums and flailed wildly with him. Jade was laughing and egging them on and Karkat simply ascended the steps with his palm firmly in the middle of his face.

At the top of the steps, Karkat quickly looked around on the narrow walkway for any sign of the boy. But realized that by now, he'd have either gone into a room or gotten lost in the crowd that was now casually congregating in front of pretty much every apartment door. As John and the rest stumbled up the steps to join him, they began to push gently back through to Roxy's room.

 

Maybe it wasn't him. Maybe he was drunk and hopeful and hell, even if it was him what would he have done anyway?

 

Feeling upset because he'd fooled himself into hoping, Karkat grumbled and decided to lean on the railing off to the side once they got near Roxy's. He didn't want to go in to loud party or get dragged into dancing. He'd gone and gotten himself in a mood and now drunk, he wasn't going to subject his friends to his sulking. He could see them going into the apartment; loud, club music streamed out from the open door momentarily. Apparently the DJ had been on time.

After about 10 minutes, Roxy burst out of the door, a mixed drink in one hand and her martini in the other.

"KARRRRRRRKATTT. HEEEEERE KITTY KITTY KITTY."

Karkat turned, without thinking, towards her. She spotted him.

"HERE KITTY KITTY COME GET YOUR CREEEEAM."

"OH FOR FUCKS SAKE."

She weaved her way through the crowd laughing and meowing at him while the party goers looked on, laughing. Her devil dress was slightly ripped, her horns missing, and her lipstick smudged and smeared on her martini glass.

"Karkit! Wher-where have you beeeeen. I made you this amazing drunk- I mean drink haha. Here come on come in and dance with me please, pleeeaseee. You can't hang around out here like a grump come oooon." Karkat tried to protest but Roxy had already looped her arm through his and was pulling him into the party.

The room was packed. Earlier it had just been the seven of them, but now it seemed they had somehow packed 40 people into the tiny kitchen and living room and hallways to the closed off bedrooms. The only lights now came from the LEDs Roxy had hung and two blacklights the DJ had set up on either side of the makeshift booth. It also seemed like something behind the DJ was... glowing? Karkat couldn't tell from so far back and his attention was still diverted on backing out of dancing with Roxy. But once the rest of their group spotted them, it was enviable that he was going to get hauled into the circle they were dancing in right up front.

"KARKAT!" they all collectively yelled when he was close enough. They were all happily dancing close together. The two guys they'd picked up from downstairs seemed to be competing for Jade's attention, but neither were getting anywhere as Jade preferred to dance around on her own. John was flopping around doing lame 80s dance moves, totally convinced he was the coolest guy there. Gamzee seemed to be  doing some sort of fast tempo interpretive dance that was only very loosely in tune with the music. Roxy was laughing and swinging Karkat's arms and after a minute or two, Karkat gave a bit of ground. He indulged her by sort of just standing there and spinning her around, moving from side to side a bit every once in a while. The usual stuff he did when he danced with girls.

"This DJ is great!" Jade yelled breathlessly over the din of noise after another song.

"Yeah - and he's hot!" Roxy added. With that little comment, Karkat finally scooted up past them a bit to get a look himself.

 

Yeah. It was him.

 

Karkat just stood there. There was Dave, hair tousled, shirtless and in a pair of tight, white pants. He was busy spinning at a pair of records, thumping his foot and nodding his head in time with the beat. And that glowing thing Karkat could barely make out behind him earlier? It was a pair of huge, feathered angel wings. They were white, and glowing in the black lights. To add to his already over the top outfit, his aviator shades were on, totally unconcerned that he was in a dark room at night. He looked ridiculous.

 

Ridiculous and gorgeous as fuck.

 

Standing there not moving at all, Karkat stuck out like a sore thumb and it took only a few seconds for Dave to look up and see him gawking at him as he was literally a few feet away from him.

 For a second, Karkat thought nothing would happen. It was dark as hell and even if he could see him through those shades, why would he remember him anyway? But apparently, Dave did recognize him.

Cool as can be, he slid his left hand up to his shades and tilted them down his nose and looked straight at Karkat while continuing to spin a record with his right. With the same hand, he made a small short wave right at Karkat, a small smile playing on the blonde's lips.

Karkat sputtered and raised a hand to wave but half-way through immediately pulled it back down, afraid Dave had been waving to someone else. He tried to play it off and look behind him for the real recipient, but when he saw no one and turned back around, Dave was still looking at him and laughed. He kept eye contact with him and placed one finger on his wrist to indicate time, and then threw up two fingers and then pointed at Karkat.

Whatever the fuck that meant, Karkat was sticking around to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AIR GUITAR. HEIR GUITAR. I love puns ;3;
> 
> Next Chapter: Karkat finally gets into the groove of dancing, has another drink or three and has a chat with an angel.


	4. Party at Roxy's part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is a bit late, at least it's 1K longer than the other chapters. Thank you everyone who has been reading! I just wanted to drop my tumblr here too. You can find me at [http://Saterema.tumblr.com]()! Feel free to leave asks about fics or things. I also cosplay and draw a little lol. 
> 
> I also wanted to say thanks to tumblr user vmprsm for this sweet fanart:  
> [Sweet Fanart](http://vmprsm.tumblr.com/post/55759826094/theres-like-a-million-self-deprecating-things-i)
> 
>  
> 
> OKAY THANKS GUYS ENJOY.

Instead of trying to recover from his very obvious fumble, Karkat simply nodded at Dave. Dave slipped his shades back on and began to transition songs. The music became more fast paced and dancy, and Karkat almost started staring again as Dave began to swing his hips to the beat. Luckily Jade grabbed him and handed him his drink that Roxy had apparently been trying to down. Karkat took it gladly.

He took a place in the circle of his friends and started to dance more earnestly. He could barely make a move without feeling like Dave was watching everything he did. He wasn't sure if it was the fact that he had downed his drink the minute he got it back, or if he really thought he had a chance, but Karkat decided to go with it and lost himself in the music and his friends.

Jade started laughing as Karkat threw his arms up in the air and started to bump hips with John next to him. John flipped out but began laughing as soon as he realized it was Karkat. John made a peace sign in each hand and proceeds to sweep them over his eyes, continuing his onslaught of cliché dance moves. Across from him, Gamzee had started shaking his ass a bit more animatedly than necessary, causing one of the two guys that Jade had brought to leave, while the other seemed to find it hilarious and joined him. Jade eventually grabbed hold of Karkat's hands and had him dance with her for a song. Of course it was all in good fun and he was more than comfortable with his friend touching him, but he was nervous that all this dancing with girls would somehow give Dave the wrong idea.

Every few minutes Karkat would glance over to the DJ booth. Dave was a great DJ, he played everything from popular songs to obscure Indie bands, but everything he played he remixed and edited himself it seemed. Everything he spun was catchy or heart pounding.

By now Karkat was completely drunk on the atmosphere, Dave's presence, and of course the actual alcohol. He was beginning to wonder if Dave even wore clothing on a regular basis, not that he was complaining. Even though he'd calmed down from the initial shock, a little jolt flipped in his stomach every time he looked over and saw his pale chest glowing in the black lights.

After a few more songs, Karkat squeezed his way back to the kitchen bar. Close by, Rose was drunk off her ass and kissing and leaning on a slightly buzzed Kanaya near the bathroom door. Karkat couldn't help but tease and wiggled his eyebrows in their direction. Rose laughed loudly into Kanaya's neck and Kanaya made a shooing motion with her free hand with a grin on her face. Karkat smiled back and mixed himself a drink.

He almost went to walk back to his friends, when he was suddenly struck by inspiration. His heart started pounding at the thought of it, but he knew he had to do it. Running on adrenaline, he quickly mixed up another drink and hurried back to the front of the room.

"Oh is that for me? Thanks, buddy!" John said, trying to grab one of the drinks.

"NO YOU DORK. It's for the DJ."

"Oh okay. Wait. What?"

Karkat kept walking before anyone else could ask, or before he chickened out. He forced his way up and around one of the speakers and trying to be as smooth as possible, held out the drink to Dave.

"Hey. You look like you could use a drink."

He looked up making an amused face at Karkat, flipped a few dials on his turn tables and pressed a button. The music kept playing as he took his hands off his equipment and turned to Karkat with a smirk across his face.

"How considerate of you."

Dave took the glass, and for a brief second their fingers touched. Karkat knew it was stupid, but he couldn't help but feel butterflies in his stomach at the contact. Dave still held out the glass and raised it slightly. Karkat clinked his glass to his and they drank. After that Karkat just sort of stood there, drunk and not really sure what else to say. He hadn't thought of an exit strategy.

"So I guess you couldn't wait two hours like I said huh."

Karkat gulped. "Oh shit. Is that what that meant?"

"Yeah dude, pretty sure tapping your wrist is the universal for time. It's cool though. I'll be flipping to a playlist in like an hour. I'll come find you after that?"

"Um sure. Cool."

"Oh, and by the way, nice horns."

Stumbling away and back to his friends, Karkat wasn't sure what had happened. Did that seriously just go well? Did he mean he was going to come talk to him after? Why was he being so casual and, well, interested?

 

Holy shit.

 

"What was that about, Karkat!!" Jade yelled as Karkat rejoined the circle. She had a devious look on her face.

"I uh. I brought the DJ a drink. What the fuck does it matter?"

"Oh my god are you hitting on the DJ Karkat?"

"FUCK NO. I JUST THOUGHT HE'D WANT A DRINK. I SORT OF KNOW HIM, OK?"

Jade looked puzzled than upset, "You knew that cute guy this whole time?? Why didn't you say something before! I wanted to request a song but was too nervous."

"I don't know him that well. Look, just don't fucking worry about it. Go ask him for a song, I'm sure he'll play it." Jade made a huffy face, but walked over to the DJ booth.

The group kept dancing together for another song or two when Rose and Kanaya joined them. Kanaya had tactfully filled Rose's martini glass with water and the two joined the dance group, albeit a little sloppily. A song later, Jade's request came on - Who Let the Dogs Out. Both she and John immediately screamed and started dancing together.

"JADE YOU PICKED THIS FUCKING SONG?"

"Oh my god this is a great song, Karkat!" John said enthusiastically as Jade barked loudly at the chorus.

"YOU GUYS HAVE THE WORST TASTE IN MUSIC."

"Haha! Karkat just dance with us! If your boyfriend didn't like it he wouldn't have put it on!"

"BOYFRIEND?"

Karkat felt his face go red. Of course, he immediately looked over to Dave. Jade waved frantically over at him as well, in thanks. In response, Dave simply tilted his head from side to side and mouthed the word "WOOF" a few times.

 

Goddamnit that should not be sexy.

 

Karkat looked back around to John and punched him in the arm. John stuck out his tongue at him and then laughed. Karkat rolled his eyes and went back to dancing too. Everyone in the room seemed to be into the stupid song, so Karkat went along with it. Eventually, and with the aid of his drink, Karkat was back to dancing like an idiot with the rest of them. His head was spinning and his heart was racing and he couldn't quite keep track of what was going on. The night was going so well and he couldn't believe how much fun he was actually having. He continued to steal glances at Dave every once in a while, though he might have been more obvious due to his intoxication. He even caught Dave looking at him once, too. Nothing could ruin his mood right now. Nothing.

Then the lights flipped on. Everyone groaned and shielded their eyes.

"I NEED EVERYONE'S ATTENTION NOW."

At the front door, a girl with short black hair and glasses was glaring at everyone in the room, looking for someone in particular clearly.

"I AM THIS FLOOR'S RA AND I WOULD LIKE ALL OF YOU TO KNOW THAT THIS ROOM IS OVER CAPACITY AND AGAINST FIRE CODE." She paused and stood up on the couch. "FURTHERMORE, I AM BEING LENIENT WHEN I SAY THAT ANYONE UNDERAGE WILL BE WRITTEN UP IMMEDIATELY UNLESS THEY VACATE THE ROOM IN THE NEXT FIVE MINUTES."

She paused, waiting for the room to clear out. When nobody moved, her faced twisted dangerously with anger.

"YOU WILL OBEY, AND SUBMIT."

Still, nobody moved, probably too terrified to move close to the exit near her. After another few more seconds. Roxy wobbled up to Jane with an entire bottle of Vodka in her hand. Jane scoffed the second she saw her and was about to complain when Roxy started climbing up her. She was trying very hard to have a serious face on when Roxy put one hand on Jane's shoulder and held out the bottle to Jane with her other.

"JANEEEEEEY.... CONSUME." Roxy wiggled the bottle in her face.

Jane's face contorted, the picture of "what the fuck". Everyone looked at her sort of expectantly, hoping she'd actually take a swig. Unfortunately, she just took the bottle away from Roxy and started shooing people out. Roxy hung on her and whined as people started to get the message. Party's over.

"COME ON PEOPLE, IF YOU'RE OF AGE THERE ARE PLENTY OF OTHER PARTIES IN OTHER APARTMENTS TO GO TO - JUST NOT PAST QUIET HOURS. I WILL FIND YOU."

Karkat looked around at his friends and saw them inching up to the bar, hoping to snag one more drink before finding a new party. Karkat was about to join them when he felt a hand on his wrist gently pull him back. He turned around quickly, startled on instinct, to see Dave not 6 inches from him. He had taken his wings off and they were folded under his other arm.

Dave leaned in close and whispered in Karkat's ear, "quick toots, let's book it before the coppers get us."

Karkat felt himself tense up, but Dave was so close he could actually smell him. He couldn't tell if it was his hair or his cologne or what but he swore he smelt faintly of spiced apples. Karkat only nodded his agreement to leave, finding himself strangely out of breath. Dave smirked and slide his hand down Karkat's wrist to his hand and laced his fingers with his. He pulled him through the crowd.

 

Wait, they weren't going toward the front door.

 

Instead, Dave sidestepped behind the crowd and snaked around the hallway near the bathroom. For a brief second, Karkat thought he was going to pull him into one of the girl's bedrooms. Instead, he pulled him to another door. It opened up to the balcony. Dave pulled him through the door and Karkat shut it behind him. They held hands for another moment before Karkat broke away reluctantly, feeling extremely self-conscious all of the sudden.

"So.."

"So we escaped. I thought I was going to lose you there for a second, man."

"Ha, no," he paused awkwardly for a moment, "So uh, you were really great tonight. Except for Jade's stupid request."

"Thanks man. So her name was Jade. You gonna fill me in on yours or..?"

"Oh shit. Sorry, I'm such a fuck sometimes. My name's Karkat. It's nice to actually meet you. Um,  you know instead of like in class... it's Dave, right?"

Dave set his wings down against the wall and then leaned over the railing with his arms crossed over the bar.

"Mhm. It's Dave."

He still had his shades on, but he looked over at Karkat and nodded his head towards him. Karkat noticed there were a few lawn chairs on the balcony, but Dave had gestured him over to him anyway. Karkat went over next to Dave and leaned his back against the railing with his arms crossed. Dave looked up at him, expectantly. Karkat didn't know what to say, so he just blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"So how did you get into modeling?"

"I took a photo class. We did some shots with models. I asked them how to get into it. Apparently you can just sign up for it in the art department office and they put you on a list. I usually model a few times a semester. I get paid pretty decently for modeling too, I do it sometimes for art majors privately when they have projects and stuff. It's pretty fun, what with just sitting on your ass looking hot."

Dave laughed soundlessly when Karkat made a face and bit his upper lip at the last comment. Karkat composed himself, but was still a bit pink in the cheeks.

"So you're a student here - Art major?"

"Nah, music major. I took the photo class for fun. I really like photography."

For a second, Dave's expression flashed to tinge of embarrassment.

Karkat smiled and cleared up his fears, "Photography's cool. I'm the nerd here trust me; I'm a Biology major."

Dave's expression changed to amusement, "Yeah, I can see that."

"Hey fuck you!" Karkat punched him in the arm playfully and Dave laughed more openly as he put his hands up to block.

"Hey man calm down. I just meant, you seem like the kind of guy that's smart enough for that sort of thing. All that sciencey experiment shit."

"Oh." Karkat wasn't really expecting a compliment. He was pretty bad at taking them too, so he sort of just left it at that.

"And well," Dave looked at Karkat with mock concern, "you seemed to be having a little trouble keeping it together in figure drawing today."

Karkat felt a knot in his chest. He was embarrassed and worried and looked away, unable to keep a straight face. Some part of his mind rationalized that Dave must at least have some interest in him. He knew that he probably wouldn't waste his time talking to him alone just to mess with him. It was just that he was shirtless and gorgeous and right fucking there. Anything Karkat could think to say just got scrambled the minute he looked at him. If he wasn't drunk he probably could have come up with something smooth, but instead he just decided to wing it. He looked back at Dave and just started rambling.

"Yeah I mean you're hot; what do you want from me? Besides, I've never taken a drawing class before so I was like oh my fucking god I have to balance trying to draw with this shitty ass pencil, try to actually draw a goddamn hand, which is fucking impossible by the way, all while you're sitting there staring at me being attractive as fuck. Yeah I think you can safely fucking say I was having a little bit of trouble. At least in Biology classes the bodies are usually dead and never pretty."

As Karkat was talking, Dave cracked a smile that grew by the end of rant, ending with Dave nibbling on the bottom lip of his grin. Relieved Dave wasn't turned off by his admission of attraction to him, Karkat turned around to lean on the railing with him, scooting just a little bit closer. After a half a minute of silently watching the view of party goers trampling around the dorm grounds, Karkat finally asked him the question that was nagging at him.

"Why'd you drag me out here?"

"Well we couldn't really have a conversation in the middle of a sweet dance party."

Karkat rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean."

"I couldn't really communicate it at the time, what with being ass naked and frozen in a pose, but earlier in class I wanted to talk to you. I'd hoped I'd run into you tonight. Got lucky I guess."

Heat crept into Karkat's cheeks and he felt a small twitch in his groin at the thought of Dave thinking about him while he was modeling.

"Yeah but I mean... why me?" Karkat ran his hand through his hair nervously. He felt really stupid and cliché asking it, but he was drunk and didn't care and Dave was still talking to him so why not push his luck.

"I'm sorry, but if someone was drawing you in a dead silent drawing class trying so hard to draw you that they literally screamed out 'Mother Fucker' from breaking their pencil due to the intensity of the goddamn situation, you would want to talk to them because damn, that person must be pretty fucking hilarious. Besides after that, you were like really intense and passionate and shit. I really respect people like that I mean it was written all over your face, which we gotta work on, but I mean, damn. Oh and you're cute as hell."

Karkat saw himself reflected in Dave's shades. His mouth was just slightly agape and he was definitely blushing now. He ran everything Dave said through his mind again and then started laughing. He was drunk and laughed so much he had to reach out his hand to brace himself on Dave's shoulder. Dave gladly obliged, laughing a bit too, and leaned in to steady him.

As intimidating and attractive as he was, Karkat couldn't help but feel comfortable around Dave. He definitely put on the cool, aloof act but really he was sort of... dorky? He felt like he could stay out here and talk to him until the sun rose. Then maybe Dave's shades wouldn't be so ridiculous. Speaking of which.

"Hey. Take off those dumb shades, it's like 1:00AM for fuck's sake."

"No way, dude. I never take these babies off."

"Bullshit you took them off today."

"Yeah and it pained me like a goddamn wound to the heart. There's no way."

"Oh come on I want to at least see your face when I'm talking to you."

"Jeez you want me to just strip down again too? I mean, fuck might as well be naked without my shades. It's cool it's not really that strange for me, I guess."

"You little shit, I just want to see your eyes again, okay?" Karkat said that last bit a little too meaningfully; a trace of longing in his voice that wasn't missed by Dave.

Dave backed up slightly and cocked an eyebrow at him. "What'll you give me if I take them off?"

"What. What the fuck I'm not gonna give you anything for it."

Both eyebrows went up and Dave crossed his arms.

"Oh my fucking god. Fine, what do you want."

"Mmmmm..." Dave put his hands to his glasses and wiggled them teasingly as he thought. Karkat made a face.

"Alright I know what I want."

"What the fuck is it?"

Dave left his shades on, but dug out his phone from his back pocket, clicked on it some and handed it to Karkat.

"I want your number."

Karkat looked at the phone and back to Dave, who was back to messing with his shades, egging him on with eyebrow wiggles.

"You're a fucking dork you know that," Karkat said as he typed his number into Dave's phone.

"No way, man. I'm the coolest guy you'll ever meet."

"I highly doubt that."

"Okay you know what, now you gotta take them off of me, just for that little comment."

"Pfft. Whatever. Come here then."

It was unbelievable how quickly Dave was able to flip from dorky and relaxed to sexy and confident. It was like his entire face chilled over and his body language actually compelled Karkat to come closer. Dave was taller and Karkat had to look up to him slightly as he raised his arms up to grab the shades.

Before he could get them off, Dave reached up and grabbed Karkat's wrists. 

"What the hell."

"One more thing."

"Bullshit I gave you my num-"

Dave leaned in so close that their noses were touching. He was so close, he could just barely make out Dave's eyes through the tinted plastic.

"One kiss?" Dave asked, with a ghost of doubt in his voice. For some reason the fact that Dave stopped to ask, that he thought for a second Karkat might reject him, that the situation was just sort of cheesy and romantic and exactly what Karkat loved, was even more irresistible and attractive than if he had just kissed him. Karkat let out the smallest of gasps, and then pressed his lips to Dave's.

As Karkat leaned into the kiss, Dave pulled Karkat's wrists up onto his shoulders. With his newly free hands he pulled Karkat in close, deepening the kiss. After a moment, Dave began to pull back, but Karkat laced his fingers into Dave's hair, not ready to give him up yet. They kissed again, and Karkat could feel Dave grinning as he kissed him. He bit softly at Dave's lower lip in response, which wiped the grin off Dave's face and caused him to let out the smallest of groans.

Now it was Karkat grinning into Dave's mouth as he continued to nip and kiss at him. He was about go for it, about to flick his tongue into Dave's mouth when they heard a loud bang. Still lip locked, the door to the balcony swung open to reveal Roxy, Rose and Kanaya with a huge bucket of water ballons.  

"LET'S RAIN DOWN JUDGEMENT ON THOSE SINNERS" Roxy ran to the edge of the railing and started lobbing water balloons down on several party goers dressed in Hell garb. She didn't even notice the scene she walked in on. Kanaya and Rose did.

"Hello you two. I see you're enjoying yourselves." Kanaya said and wiggled her eyebrows at Karkat in particular.

"I doo hope we aren't uhm intruding. You wanna throw some balloons at people with us or are you good with tonsil hockey there." Rose slurred out trying to make a kissy face at Kanaya towards the end.

Roxy swiveled around in the middle of shoving a balloon into her bra, or taking one out, Karkat honestly couldn't tell as he was actively cringing in embarrassment with one hand on his face. Dave seemed fairly unaffected, if not upset his kiss was cut short.

"OH MY GOD, WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE, HOT GUY AND KARKAT??"

"Hey Roxy. I borrowed your balcony and your friend. Figured you wouldn't mind."

"Nooo of course not. Oh my goooood you were kissing weren't you?? Can you keep going, what did I miss??"

"ALRIGHT. FUCK THIS. GIVE ME A GODDAMN BALLOON."

With that, the five of them started bombarding a group below who were shooting people on the first floor with water guns. They were assaulted with balloons themselves once a pair with a water balloon sling shot started lobbing them up to their level. At one point, Dave died tragically saving Rose and dramatically fell to the ground. Karkat rolled his eyes at him but then noticed that Dave plus white pants plus water was an amazing combination.

Eventually, the rest of his friends called him and demanded he abandon his post to join them on the first floor. He said goodbye to the girls and pulled Dave aside to say goodbye in private.

"So can I text you all day tomorrow or is that lame?" Dave asked.

"Yeah you can, but don't expect me to answer."

Karkat laughed as Dave made a mock show of shock and sadness. He pulled Dave in for one more quick kiss which made the both of them blush. He left quickly after that, finding his friends soaked on the first floor. After another 20 minutes of water fights, they called it quits for the night and headed home.

After walking Gamzee up to the room, helping him undress, and tucking him into his bed, Karkat stripped down himself and fell into his own bed face first just like he had earlier that day. He couldn't stop smiling, unlike then, and had trouble falling asleep. He kept staring at his phone, upset that he hadn't gotten Dave's number. Now he had to wait for him to text him. For a second he had the sick fear drop into his stomach that Dave would never text him back. Pushing that negative thought out of his mind, he set the phone on his night stand and rolled over, trying to sleep.

 

10 minutes later, his phone vibrated.

 

Karkat flew back around, twisting himself in his covers. He grabbed the phone up greedily and saw a text from Dave.

"Hey. You look like you could use a lunch date."

Karkat smiled and actually giggled but only because he was drunk, he tried to convince himself.

"You couldn't even wait two hours, huh?"

A minute went by. Another text.

"Oh shit. I was supposed to wait?"

"No you dork. I'm busy for lunch with friends. Dinner?"

Less than a minute this time.

"Dinner huh? That sounds pretty fancy. Let's make it a date. Call me when you're free and I'll come get you."

"Alright. I look forward to it. Now go the fuck to sleep."

20 seconds.

"See you then, Cutekat."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Karkat gets bombarded with questions at lunch and goes to dinner with Dave!


	5. Lunch with the Meowrails

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat has an infuriating lunch with Nepeta and Equius in which Dave is talked about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY GUYS. First off let me say I'm profusely sorry about how late this update is! I recently got a new job where I now work 35 hours a week so that took some adjusting. I ALSO HAD WRITERS BLOCK. But that's done with now and I have the next chapter already started! It's a little short this time because the scenes didn't make sense to continue and I wanted to post something ASAP. Next chapter shouldn't be longer than a week. 
> 
> ALSO THANK YOU FOR ALL THE PAGEVIEWS AND COMMENTS. I really appreciate them like a lot ;w; <3

Karkat woke up with a dry mouth and a headache. He rolled around and threw his pillow over his head as he took his time accepting being awake and hoped his hangover would magically disappear. After a few seconds, memories of the previous night came flooding back. Before he could stop himself a smile spread across his face. He buried it into his mattress and after a moment, sat up off of the edge of his bed.

He licked at the top of his mouth and smacked his lips to try to get rid of his dry mouth. As he scratched his head, he glanced down to see a heap on the floor. His roommate was passed out face first on the floor space between their two beds. Not surprised, Karkat stepped over him to get some water from their mini-fridge. Karkat pushed aside a few cans of Faygo and pulled out the last water.

As he chugged, he looked at himself in the mirror across the room. Something shiny on his face caught his attention. He threw his empty water bottle at Gamzee, who grunted and rolled over and then stepped closer and inspected his face. He scratched at the offending sparkle on the corner of his mouth, until he realized he had glitter smeared across his cheek.

"Oh my fucking god. I'm literally covered in gay."

How could he have been so drunk that he didn't realize Dave had on body glitter? Maybe he was just that entranced by him, but more likely a combination of both. He scowled and raised his hand to wipe it off his face but then changed his mind. He wasn't being sentimental. Nope. Glitter just doesn't come off, it's a fact of the universe.

He walked over to Gamzee again, but this time he tried to help him back up into his bed.

"Gamzee get the fuck up, you fell out of your bed again."

No response.

"Gamzee you fuckstick, get up!" Karkat pulled one of his arms and while his roommate groaned and rubbed at his eye with his free hand.

"What... What's all up and happening, my brother?"

"You passed the fuck out or some shit in the middle of the room. I thought I tucked you in last night."

"I vaguely remember a motherfucking toilet."

"Well at least you made it to the bathroom this time."

Karkat pulled him onto his bed until Gamzee was able to take care of his own limbs. He rolled his eyes but couldn't suppress a smirk. Once he was sure Gamzee was settled, he walked over to his desk to get some Tylenol. He sat on the edge of his chair and rifled through his junk drawer until he found the bottle. He handed some to Gamzee and then fished out some for himself. As he downed the pills, he noticed his clock and flipped out.

"HOLY SHIT. IT'S 12:37? FUCK. I'M LATE FOR LUNCH."

Gamzee watched him as he chewed the non-chewable tablets with a glazed expression as Karkat frantically undressed and threw on a fresh shirt and jeans. His hair was a mess and he looked like hell but he had no time for a shower. Disgruntled, he settled for mashing his hair down after licking his palms. He grabbed his wallet and phone from his night stand and glanced at Gamzee.

"Do you want to come to lunch, you useless asshole?"

Gamzee flopped back onto his bed and rolled in the blankets. A honk emitted from somewhere in the bed.

"Right. Well, I'll bring you back something."

 

\-- --  --

 

"Karkat you look like something the cat dragged in!"

Nepeta looked at Karkat with genuine concern as he flopped down to join her and Equius.

"Thanks" was all he deigned to answer. He started in on his food as Nepeta fussed at him more, asking him what happened and Karkat simply gave her simple, vague answers, leaving out as much information as he could. Nepeta could smell something was up, but got distracted when Karkat diverted the subject and asked about her night. She recounted her and Equius's night of roleplay and tv marathons as she cut up Equius's food into little bite-sized pieces for him. Karkat half-heartedly listened as he ate, having heard the same sort of thing almost every weekend from her, but glad to not have to talk.

"Really, Karkitty! You should have been there we had a great time. Come on, just tell me where were you last night?"

Karkat threw his arms up in the air, but finally gave in.

"Alright alright fuck damn. The drunks dragged me out to a party last night," he said trying not to smile as he thought about Dave, "It wasn't... bad."

Nepeta's nose twitched and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Wasn't bad? Party? Spill it, what happened!" She leaned forward, her eyes still narrowed but a cat-like smile played across her face.

" _What?_ I mean, I guess it was fun," he looked away hesitantly but Nepeta was still staring him down so he added, "...and I might have met a guy."

Nepeta's face lit up and a wide grin played across her face. Equius looked up slightly but said nothing and continued to eat his food carefully.

"What's his name? What does he look like? How tall is he? Do I know him? Did you meet him there? Did you-"

"HOLY FUCKING SHIT SLOW DOWN. Ugh, goddamn it Nepeta. This is why I don't discuss my non-existent relationships with you."

Nepeta only smiled cutely bringing her palms to her cheeks. Her eyes went wide and glassy. Karkat let out a loud, exasperated sigh. Nepeta had always been interested in other people's relationships, but Karkat had always avoided talking to her about his. Partly because she had a crush on him in high school, but also because more often than not, he didn't have anything or anyone to talk about.

"Okay, okay just tell me one or two things and I purromise I won't ask again... today."

She looked at him expectantly with her hands folded on the table.

"Okay fine. So um... we went to Roxy's for one of her parties..." He bit his lip and paused but Nepeta gestured at him hurriedly to go on, "and... well, you know the guy from our drawing class?"

"Who? There are like ten guys in the class!"

"Dave."

"Who??"

"The... model."

Nepeta's eyes went even wider and slowly, her face grew into an open mouthed smile. She said nothing as she balled her hands into fists and shook them in a shallow up and down motion. Equius, who had been silently listening finally broke the silence after a few strange moments of Nepeta's vibrations.

"Is he... an upperclassman?"

"OH GOD FUCKING DAMN IT WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU TWO. I LITERALLY JUST MET THE GUY AT A PARTY OKAY IT'S NOT LIKE HE WAS SPLAYED OUT NAKED ON THE DJ BOOTH, OH HE'S A FUCKING DJ TOO BY THE WAY, AND WE SORT OF JUST RAN INTO EACH OTHER THROUGH THE RANDOM WORKINGS OF SPACE AND TIME. JADE WAS TRYING TO REQUEST A SONG AND I WENT UP AND TALKED TO HIM FOR HER AND ONE THING LED TO ANOTHER AND MAYBE I FUCKING KISSED HIM. IS THAT ILLEGAL ALL OF THE SUDDEN JESUS CHR-"

 

Karkat's phone chimed.

 

His rant was cut short as everyone's attention went straight to his phone on the table. Karkat had never tried harder to ignore something. He was determined to continue his diatribe and defend his perfectly legitimate night and not check his phone until after lunch.

 

...

 

"IS IT HIM?"

"FUCK YOU... YES."

Karkat read his text between cupped hands, determined to keep Nepeta oblivious to his date later that night.

 

"Hey so is 6 too early or"

 

Karkat looked up just in time to fend off Nepeta's grabby hands with one arm as he held the phone away with the other.

"Come on I just want to seeeeee! You kissed him! Are you dating now? Oh my god, when can we meet hi-"

"HOW ABOUT NEVER"

"So you are dating him!"

Nepeta's face curled into a cat face and as Karkat went completely red and fell into a rain of expletives. After a good few minutes of ranting, Karkat calmed down enough to tell everyone in the world to fuck off and got up dramatically to fake leave.

 

Really he was just grabbing some food to take home for Gamzee, but fuck was it a good excuse.

 

As he sat back down a few minutes later Nepeta seemed to have been composed by Equius, who was softly speaking to her.

 

"If you value this friendship and your life you'll fucking drop this interrogation shit right now."

"Alright Karkitty you win! You go have fun texting your cute boyfr- I mean friend."

Karkat made a soundless snarl and Nepeta held her hands up for quiet.

"Karkitty, I saw him! I can at least call him cute because he is! And he's a boy... that I assume you're friends with now so.. "

"WHATEVER OKAY LOOK I'M GONNA GO. GAMZEE'S PROBABLY PASSED OUT ON A ROOF AGAIN OR SOMETHING SO-"

"Alright well, I guess if I don't see you until next week's class I'll know whhhhy!!"

"GOODFUCKINGBYE"

Karkat stormed off after giving the two a curt nod. Once he got far enough away to be confident Nepeta wasn't following him he whipped out his phone and quickly mashed in a reply.

"Godfucking dammit 6 is fine"

As his dorm came into view, another chime.

"Sure it's okay? if you're like second guessin this that's fine"

Frantic at the accidental negativity he just spewed, he made up for it with a bit more honestly than he intended.

"NO. I'm fucking excited as hell about tonight. My friend found out about last night and interrogated me."

A quick second later.

"Ha. Well tell her she can come if she's that excited."

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND?  THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL SHE IS COMING TONIGHT"

"No dude I meant the wedding"

Karkat stopped in the middle of the hallway to stare at the text before thumbing in his mock reply.

"You know on second thought, don't come tonight"

"You really know the way to a lady's heart man. See you in like 4 hours"

Karkat groaned as he stopped in front of his door. Dave was messing with him and even though it was causing his heart rate to do the high jump and run a marathon, he sort of loved the goofy attention. He sort of actually was excited as hell for tonight. He texted back a mocking reply before opening his door.

"Wow, what an asshat you are, how do I even find you attractive. Ugh... see you then."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NEXT CHAPTER: Karkat freaks out about what to wear and they ACTUALLY GO ON THE DATE.
> 
> EDIT: ALSO IF YOU STARTED READING RIGHT WHEN THIS WAS POSTED I ACCIDENTALLY DID THE DRAFT NOT THE FINAL SO SOME OF THE TEXT MIGHT NOT MAKE SENSE BUT IT DOES NOW SORRY.


	6. Not Fancy Date Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm posting this to prove I'm still alive and interested in this fic. I WILL BE FINISHING IT. I just have been having some 40+ hour work weeks and finally I've got two days off instead of one a week so HOPEFULLY after Shadocon this weekend I will be more active. I won't be giving update deadlines, but I will try to be quicker than this time. Again I know it's short and I apologize. Sorry to everyone who has read and left nice comments you guys are the reason I'm working to get this done okay <33

Karkat came back to an empty room. He wasn't surprised. Gamzee often disappeared from time to time. He threw the food he had brought his roommate in their mini-fridge and then went and stood in front of his closet. He immediately began to over think his outfit for dinner. He pulled out a red, plaid jacket and threw it on his bed as well as the only slim-cut t-shirt he owned. Second guessing himself, he dove back into his closet for something fancier, but only managed to find a collared shirt, like the one he had worn to the party except that this one was red. He laid that down more carefully on his bed with a pair of black slacks.

Not able to come to a decision, he just left them there to go shower. He didn't spend any time fantasizing about Dave this time. He took his time and fussed over being perfectly clean and presentable. He was starting to feel nervous.

After a longer than usual shower, he dried himself off and headed back to his room. Still in his towel, he took a minute to fuss in the mirror over himself and decided to actually blow dry his hair for once. He did so and was more pleased but still anxious to have it styled after he dressed.

He spent the next 10 minutes putting both outfits on and scrutinizing them in the mirror. Getting nowhere he ended up just texting Dave.

"What the fuck should I wear?"

"Just wear something comfortable, we're not going to a goddamn wedding"

Karkat wrinkled his nose at the reference and carelessly pulled the collared shirt off and threw it in a heap on the floor. He slipped the fitted black tee back on and threw the red plaid jacket on as he made his way to his desk. He rifled through his drawer and pulled out a small container of hair gel. In front of his mirror, he managed to spend another 10 minutes fluffing and sculpting his hair, trying to get it into the perfect bed head look.

Finally satisfied with his appearance, he sat down to wait.

It was only 2:47PM.

"FUCK"

He had more than three hours to sit and feel his stomach do back flips and basically just stare at the wall. He decided to throw on a movie and work through some of his Biology homework.

\--

At 5:54PM Karkat's phone rang. He felt his throat fall into his stomach as he stared at it, wide eyed. On the third ring he picked it up.

"...HELLO?"

"Hey so, either tell me the dorm door code or open a window for me to climb into, Rapunzel."

"Oh shit. It's 41309."

"Man, you're no fun. I was looking forward to climbing up your hair."

"I'M GOING TO LOCK MY DOOR NOW."

"That's the spirit."

Karkat hung up on him and immediately felt like he was going to piss himself. His heart was thumping and he could have sworn he just swallowed a mouthful of cotton balls. He walked in a circle around his room absentmindedly touching things and then stood in front of the door, flipped out, then sat back down on his bed.

The three knocks on his door almost came as a surprise to Karkat. He jolted to his feet and gave himself a quick once over in the mirror before going to the door. He took a breath and opened it as casually as he could.

Karkat almost choked trying to get out a "hello". Dave was wearing a wash worn, pale red v-neck tee and torn up blue jeans. He had a beat-up black backpack slung over one shoulder that tugged his shirt aside some. His collarbones were showing and framing a thin gold chain with a tiny golden feather charm hanging from it. His hair was swept to one side as if he had simply ran his hand through it and it had kept its place. But the thing about him that really threw Karkat was the fact that his eyes were completely unveiled.

He was slouching slightly, caught between trying to look at the floor and Karkat. With his shades gone, his red eyes revealed so much more about his emotions. With his shades, Karkat could have interpreted his slouch and small smirk as coy and planned. But like this, Karkat saw the clear signs of nervousness and vulnerability. His eyes darting back and forth, his smile seemed small and shy, more adorable than sexy.

Immediately Karkat felt less nervous and actually a little amused. He didn't expect this, for sure.

"Hey"

"hey"

"No shades today? Good. I thought you'd forgotten you promised me you'd take them off"

"Yeah well, I was drunk and got distracted. Anyway, I'm making up for it today only. You get a shades-free date and if you brush that off as some sort of trivial offering we might not make it to the next date."

"Well excuse the fuck out of me."

Karkat's tone was light and he grinned at Dave and saw his shy smile gain some of the warmth and confidence he remembered from last night.

"So, where the hell are you taking me?" Karkat crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at Dave.

"Hm, dunno yet." Dave shrugged and Karkat noticed that with every passing second he was becoming more and more comfortable. Karkat walked forward and closed his door behind him. He rolled his eyes at Dave.

"What? I figured I'd ask you what you wanted."

"Uh huh. Come on, let's go."

They made their way down the hall and out of Karkat's dorm building. Karkat thought briefly of grabbing his hand, but scolded himself for the thought of it. It would be stupid to try something like that, and besides the parking lot was no more than 50 feet away from the dorm. He glanced sideways at Dave at the thought of it, only to see him staring back at him. He quickly looked back, feeling embarrassed.

"You look really nice, by the way" Dave said nonchalantly as Karkat opened the lobby door. Karkat felt himself heat up and clumsily held the door open for Dave.

"You look better" he blurted out, a bit aggressively.

Dave smirked but his eyes betrayed his confidence. He seemed to be just as flushed from the compliment as Karkat had been. Karkat let Dave lead, partly because he had no idea which car was his, and partly to hide his face.

Dave finally stopped in front of a somewhat beat up DeLorean. Karkat stopped and stared at it wondering who in the fuck on this campus would actually own a DeLorean. It wasn't until Dave was ducking out of the way of the gull-wing door opening that Karkat realized this was Dave's fucking car.

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME."

Dave said nothing as Karkat swung his door up and slammed it back shut, himself inside.

"WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU GET THIS"

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

"YEAH. WHAT THE FUCK? WHO HAS A DELOREAN?"

"Well, ok this crazy dude came to me yelling about Plutonium, right? And then-"

"STOP"

"Are you sure? It's a great story."

"YES YOU'RE REALLY FUNNY, I'M SURE. LET'S JUST GO GET FOOD."

"Ok, I guess I'll just save it... for the future."

"God fucking damn it" Karkat rolled his eyes and pretended to be annoyed but the energy in the car was light-hearted and he had to admit that Dave's jokes were as funny as they were bad. Dave started the car and they made their way off campus onto the highway. Dave decided they'd simply park downtown and find a place once they got there. Karkat agreed and Dave flipped on some music for the ride. As they drove, Karkat tried not to be too interested as he looked around the interior of the car. He noticed CDs, some empty bottles and discarded school papers. He glanced in the back seat and saw some swords and a weird thing that Karkat guessed was a puppet? He didn't ask.

Finally they pulled into a parking garage close to many of downtown's entertainment venues and restaurants. Karkat opened the ridiculous door and found himself facing Dave, who had attempted to walk around and open the door for him. The gesture was somewhat lost from the theatrics of the car, but Karkat blushed all the same when Dave put a hand out to help him out.

"So, where are we going _really_?" Karkat asked as he took his hand and stood up.

"I was serious when I said I didn't know. I didn't think about it at all. Like thoughts were not a thing my brain had an idea about, mainly because there were no thoughts to produce the idea. If the name and location of a restaurant even existed for me to think of, it would be moot due to the brain dead state of that which was Dave Strider at that particular time. So yeah I dunno I was thinking burgers."

Karkat again was thinking back on how it was even possible for a guy so charismatic and attractive one night to be so goddamn goofy the next day. It was downright fucking endearing.

"Wow. Alright well whatever let's just walk until we find a burger place."

"Sounds like a great idea. Glad I thought of it."

Karkat rolled his eyes at that, but smiled at how Dave looked so mock proud of himself. He was _really_ enjoying his lack of glasses. The two made their way down the parking garage's flight of stairs and set off in search of a place to eat.


End file.
